Burgeoning long-range communications applications, such as satellite communication in the 45 GHz band and high data-rate wireless backhaul in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands, have driven the need for the development of high-power, energy-efficient long-range communication circuitry, such as power amplifiers.
However, existing power amplifier and combiner architectures do not provide a means for compact large-scale power combining in a linear manner to achieve watt-class output powers at mmWave frequencies.
Accordingly, new circuits for power-combined power amplifier arrays are desirable.